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Smallville poster

Shows that feel likeSmallville (2001–2011)

The origins of the world’s greatest hero–from Krypton refugee Kal-el’s arrival on Earth through his tumultuous teen years to Clark Kent’s final steps toward embracing his destiny as the Man of Steel.

If you loved Smallville, the closest series we have are Superman & Lois (2021), MacGyver (1985) and The Gifted (2017). Most of the picks below share Smallville's epic and kinetic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Into the Badlands (2015).

★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗10 seasons · The WBcreated by Alfred Goughhopefulepickineticwistful
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video
Stream it:Hulu ↗

If Smallville hit the spot, these will too

Superman & Lois poster
Superman & Lois
2021–2024 · 4 seasons · The CW
★ 7.8drama · sci-fi & fantasyMax

The same two preoccupations: superhero, and alien

The difference: Takes it somewhere less epic than Smallville does

After years of facing megalomaniacal supervillains, monsters wreaking havoc on Metropolis, and alien invaders intent on wiping out the human race, The Man of Steel aka Clark Kent and Lois Lane come face to face with one of their greatest challenges ever: dealing with all the stress, pressures and complexities that come with being working parents in today's society.

MacGyver poster
MacGyver
1985–1992 · 7 seasons · ABC
★ 7.6drama · action & adventure · crimeParamount+

Hopeful where it counts, epic underneath

The difference: Trades the wistfulness of Smallville for an angle of its own

He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a secret agent whose wits are his deadliest weapon. Armed with only a knapsack filled with everyday items he picks up along the way, he improvises his way out of every peril the bad guys throw at him. Making a bomb out of chewing gum? Fixing a speeding car's brakes... while he's riding in it? Using soda pop to cook up tear gas? That's all in a day's adventures for MacGyver. He's part Boy Scout, part genius. And all hero.

The Gifted poster
The Gifted
2017–2019 · 2 seasons · FOX
★ 7.2sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventure · dramaHulu

Powers as a family secret that puts everyone at the table in danger

The difference: Hunted-on-the-run tension throughout, with none of the small-town calm

A suburban couple's ordinary lives are rocked by the sudden discovery that their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. poster
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
2013–2020 · 7 seasons · ABC
★ 7.5drama · sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventureDisney+

A secret kept from everyone, and a small circle who help maintain it

The difference: Spy plotting and a team, no small town

Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) puts together a team of agents to investigate the new, the strange and the unknown around the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Into the Badlands poster
Into the Badlands
2015–2019 · 3 seasons · AMC
★ 7.9action & adventure · drama · sci-fi & fantasy

A gifted young man under a mentor's thumb, learning what he is for

The difference: Stylised martial-arts brutality in a bleak feudal world, not high school

In a land controlled by feudal barons, a great warrior and a young boy embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment. A genre-bending martial arts series very loosely based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West.

Gotham poster
Gotham
2014–2019 · 5 seasons · FOX
★ 7.8drama · crime · sci-fi & fantasy

A long origin story where everyone becomes who you already know

The difference: Crime opera, grim and much darker

Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world's greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon's story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner? What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world's most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them – the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face and The Joker?

Supergirl poster
Supergirl
2015–2021 · 6 seasons · CBS
★ 6.2drama · sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventureNetflix

Common ground: superhero

Twenty-four-year-old Kara Zor-El, who was taken in by the Danvers family when she was 13 after being sent away from Krypton, must learn to embrace her powers after previously hiding them. The Danvers teach her to be careful with her powers, until she has to reveal them during an unexpected disaster, setting her on her journey of heroism.

Marvel's Iron Fist poster
Marvel's Iron Fist
2017–2018 · 2 seasons · Netflix
★ 6.4action & adventure · drama · sci-fi & fantasyDisney+

An heir with a secret returning to a corporate family legacy

The difference: Flat and joyless, and much shorter

Danny Rand resurfaces 15 years after being presumed dead. Now, with the power of the Iron Fist, he seeks to reclaim his past and fulfill his destiny.

The Shannara Chronicles poster
The Shannara Chronicles
2016–2017 · 2 seasons · MTV
★ 7.1action & adventure · sci-fi & fantasy

Both are Alfred Gough's work, and they rhyme

A young Healer armed with an unpredictable magic guides a runaway Elf in her perilous quest to save the peoples of the Four Lands from an age-old Demon scourge.

The Good Doctor poster
The Good Doctor
2017–2024 · 7 seasons · ABC
★ 8dramaHulu

Drama with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome, relocates from a quiet country life to join a prestigious hospital's surgical unit. Unable to personally connect with those around him, Shaun uses his extraordinary medical gifts to save lives and challenge the skepticism of his colleagues.

New Amsterdam poster
New Amsterdam
2018–2023 · 5 seasons · NBC
★ 7.9drama

Both lean on hope more than on sci-fi & fantasy

The new medical director breaks the rules to heal the system at America's oldest public hospital. Max Goodwin sets out to tear up the bureaucracy and provide exceptional care, but the doctors and staff are not so sure he can succeed. They've heard this before. Not taking "no" for an answer, Dr. Goodwin's instinctive response to problems large and small is four simple words: "How can I help?" He has to disrupt the status quo and prove he'll stop at nothing to breathe new life into this underfunded and underappreciated hospital, returning it to the glory that put it on the map.

Hanna poster
Hanna
2019–2021 · 3 seasons · Prime Video
★ 7.6action & adventure · dramaPrime Video

Kinetic action & adventure in both cases

Follow the journey of an extraordinary young girl as she evades the relentless pursuit of an off-book CIA agent and tries to unearth the truth behind who she is.

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The best-reviewed series that share Smallville’s defining feeling.